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To the Reader
This anthology is a selection of works that chronicles the development of American literature. What sets this volume apart from similar anthologies, however, is its emphasis on the authors’ writing styles. By examining approaches as diverse as the sparse, understated prose of Ernest Hemingway and the dazzling imagery of Louise Erdrich, you will come to recognize many elements of style. It has been said that style is comprised of the fingerprints an author leaves on a text, making it so unmistakably his or hers that a careful reader can tell who has written it without the byline.
Often, certain stylistic techniques develop or evolve due to the ever-changing social, political, and cultural landscape of America. Kilroy J. Oldster, in his collection of essays Dead Toad Scrolls, explains:
Writing style is ultimately a product of personality, praxis, and cultural history. Writing styles change throughout history because human knowledge increases with each passing era. New styles in writing and other forms of artistic expression must reflect changes in human comprehension.
Therefore, this volume provides an overview of American literature from its begin- nings with the works of Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe to current influential writers such as Joy Harjo, Barbara Kingsolver, and Juan Felipe Herrera.
Early 19th-century Americans were still trying to create a distinct literature for their country decades after the birth of their nation. Against the backdrop of westward expansion, the Industrial Revolution, waves of immigration, and division over the ethics of slavery, American writers sought insight into the conflicts and dilemmas of the day. Short stories, personal narratives, essays, and poetry provided forums for such exploration. It was practical, besides. With Americans spread out across a continent, ten-cent magazines delivered nationwide by mail gave the country a sense of having its own literature.
From the beginning, the American voice has focused on the theme of personal identity, often explored in literature of personal quests that determine an individual’s sense of self and his or her relationships with others and the world. Nearly all of the basic themes and issues explored in American literature were introduced and devel- oped by early American writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass, Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, and Kate Chopin. These writers
To the Reader
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